Safety mechanism for railway tracks



Feb. 9 1926..

1,572,765 .J. H. CHESTNUT, JR I SAFETY MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY TRACKS Filed March 9, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 9 1926. 1,572,765

J. H. CHESTNUT, JR

SAFETY MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY TRACKS Filed March 9 19,25 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 glwuemtoz J/YCf/wstnaiufr:

. mm mm I Patented 9,

UETED STATES JOHN H. CHESTNUT, JR., OF TARENTUM, PENNSYLVANIA.

SAFETY MECHANISM FOR RAILW'AY TRACKS.

Application filed March 9, 1925. Serial No. 14,211.

To all 10710772 it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN H. CHESTNUT, J12, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tarentum, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Mechanism for Railway Tracks, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved safety mechanism for railway tracks and seeks, among other objects, to prevent derailment of or injury to the rolling stock at the switches or switch frogs of the track.

The invention seeks, as a further object, to provide guard shoes adjacent the switch points to selectively coact with the wheels of the rolling stock at the outer sides of the wheels for preventing the wheels jumping the track at the switch points.

A further of object of the invention is to provide a mechanism wherein the guard shoes may be manually shifted in unison with the switch points.

And the invention seeks, as a still further object, to provide a pair of guard shoes in connection with the switch frog to selectively coact with the wheels of the rolling stock at the outer sides of the wheels for preventing the wheels from jumping the track at the frog.

Other and incidental objects will appear hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing my improved safety mechanism in connection with a conventional railway track.

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view on the line 22 of Figure 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view on the line 8-3 of Figure 1, looking .in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view show ing one of the guard shoes employed in connection with the switch frog.

Figure 6 is a detail perspective view showing a slight modificationi Referring now more particularly to the drawings, I have illustrated conventional track rails at 10 and 11, and other track rails at 12 and 13. At the ends of the rails 11 and 12 are switch points 1% connected by a cross rod 15 attached to a switch lever 16. The lever is carried by a shaft 17 journaled by an appropriate switch stand 18. At the intersection of the rails 11 and 12 is a frog having portions 19 and 20 alining with the rail 11 and similar portions 21 and 22 alining with the rail 12. All of the structure thus far described is conventionally shown and need not be taken up in further detail.

In accordance with the present invention, I employ at the outer sides of the rails 10 and 11, a pair of like guard shoes 23 and 24. These guard shoes are longitudinally curved and are arranged with the convex faces thereof presented to the rails while, as shown in Figure 2, said shoes are somewhat higher than the rails. Spiked or otherwise secured to one of the ties of the track are bracket plates 25 having over hanging brackets 26 spaced with respect to the plates to receive the forward ends of the shoes 23 and 24:, and extending through said shoes and through the plates and brackets are, as shown in Figure 2, pivot bolts 27 swing-ingly mounting the shoes. Positioned between the free ends of the shoes are bed plates 28 spiked or otherwise secured to an adjacent track tie and eX'- tending between the rear end portions of said shoes is a cross rod 29 connected with the shoes by bridle plates 30 fixed to the outer sides of the shoes. To meet the re quirements of the present invention, the shaft 17 of the switch lever 16 is provided with a crank 31 and swiveled upon said crank is a yoke Slidable through said yoke is a connecting rod 33 pivotally attached to the ad'acent end of the cross rod 29, and mounted upon the rod at opposite sides of the yoke are springs 34 and 35 yieldably resisting independent longitudinal movement of the rod through the yoke.

As will now be seen in view of the foregoing, when the switch points 14 are thrown to the position illustrated in Figure 1, the shoe 23 is moved away from the outer side of the rail 1.0 while the shoe 24 is moved to abut the outer side of the rail 11. Accordingly, the shoe 24.- will be held by the spring 34 of the connecting rod 33 to yieldably cooperate with the outer side edges of the treads of car wheels traveling on the rail 11 for crowding the wheels laterally toward the rail 10 so that the wheel flanges of the wheels on the rail 11 cannot accidentally enter between the rail 11 and the adj acent switch point 14. Similarly, when the switch lever is thrown back to open the switch, the guard shoe 23 will be moved to abut the rail 10 at its outer side while the guard shoe 24 will be moved away from the rail 11. Accordingly, the shoe 23 will then be held by the spring of the connecting rod 33 to yieldably cooperate with the outer edges of the treads of car wheels on the rail 10 for crowding the wheels laterally toward the rail 11, so that the flanges of the wheels on the rail 10 cannot accidentally enter between the rail 10 and the switch point abutting thereagainst. Derailment of the rolling stock at the switch will thus be prevented. As brought out in Figure 1, the curvature of the shoes is such that the shoes extend at their ends away from the outer sides of the rails 10 and 11 so that the car wheels cannot by any possibility strike the ends of the shoes to be derailed thereby and, preferably, the shoes are located in overlapping relation with respect to the free ends of the switch points.

I further provide in conjunction with the switch frog, a pair of guard shoes 36 and 37,. the former of which is mounted at the outer side of the portion 19 of the frog while the latter is mounted at the outer side of the portion 21 of the frog. Spiked or otherwise secured to an adjacent track tie are bracket plates 38 having overhanging brackets 39, and formed on the forward ends of the shoes are laterally directed arms 40 received between the brackets and the plates and swingingly connected therewith by pivot bolts 41. The shoes 36 and 37 are curved longitudinally but not so pronounced as the shoes 23 and 2st and spiked to an adjacent track tie beneath the free ends of said shoes are bed plates 42 so that the shoes may freely swing. Extending through the portions 19 and 21 of the frog and through the free end portions of the shoes are, as shown in detail in Figure 4, bolts a3 and surrounding said bolts are springs 44 pressing the shoes against the outer sides of the portions 19 and 21 of the frog. Thus, as will now be appreciated, the shoe 36 will yieldably coact with the outer edges of the'treads of car wheels on the rail 11 for crowding the wheels toward the rail 10 while the shoe 37 will yieldably coact with the outer edges of the treads of car wheels on the rail 12 for crowding the wheels toward the rail 13. Thus, the shoes will serve to prevent the wheels jumping the track in passing over the frog.

In Figure 6 of the drawings, 1 have illustrated a slightly modified form of frog having alined portion-s 45 and 46 and intersecting alined portions 47 and 48. Integrally formed on the portions 45 and i? of the frog to upstand at the outer sides thereof are guard shoes 49, the rear ends of which curve away from the treads of the portions 45 and 47 of the frogs while the forward ends 'of the shoes curve away from the portions 16 and 48. Thus,.the shoes 49 will coact with the outer side edges of the treads of car wheels to prevent accidental derailment of the wheels as they pass over the frog.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1. A safety mechanism for railway tracks including in combination with a track rail, and a switch point to cooperate with said rail, a guard shoe mounted at the outer side of the rail adjacent the free end of the switch point to coact with the outer edge of the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel lateraliy and directing the wheel onto the switch point, and yieldable means to accommodate movement of the shoe away from the rail.

2. A safety mechanism for railway tracks including in combination with a switch frog having a tread portion, a guard shoe mounted at the outer side of said tread portion of the frog to coact with the outer edge of the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel laterally and directing the wheel across the frog, and yieldable means to accommodate movement of the shoe away from the tread portion of the frog.

3 A safety mechanism for railway tracks including in combination with a pair of spaced track rails, and switch points to cooperate withsaid rails, guard shoes mounted at the outer sides of the rails adjacent the free ends of the switch points, and means for shifting one of the shoes inwardly to lie close at the outer side of the adjacent rail and shifting the other shoe outwardly away from the outer side of the other ail whereby the shoe shifted inwardly will be disposed to coact with the outer edge of the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel laterally and directing the wheel onto the adjacent switch point. 1

4. A safety mechanism for railway tracks including in combination with a pair of spaced track rails, and switch points to cooperate with said rails, guard shoes mounted at the outer sides of the rails ad acent the free ends of the switch polnts, means for shifting one of the shoes inwardly to lie close at the outer side of the adjacent rail and shifting the other shoe outwardly away from the outer side of the other rail whereby the shoe shifted inwardly will be disposed to coact with the outer edge of the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel laterally and directing the Wheel onto the adjacent switch point, and means for yieldably holding each of the shoes when shifted inwardly toward the adjacent rail.

5. A safety mechanism for railway tracks including in combination with spaced track rails, and switch points movable in unison to cooperate with the rails, guard shoes mounted at the outer sides of the rails adjacent the free ends of the switch points and movable in unison toward and away from the rails, and means common to the switch points and shoes for shifting the shoes simultaneously with the switch points whereby when either switch point is moved to abut the adjacent rail a corresponding shoe will be moved to lie close to said rail at its outer side to coact with the outer edge of the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel laterally and directing the wheel onto the switch point.

6. L safety mechanism for railway tracks inch .ng in combination with spaced track rails switch points movable in unison to cooperate with the rails, and means for shifting the switch points guard shoes-s mounted at the outer sides of the rails adjacent the free ends of the switch points and movable in unison toward and away from the rails, and means connecting the shoes with said first mentioned means for operation thereby simultaneouslywith the switch points whereby when either switch point is moved to abut an adjacent rail. a correspond ing shoe will be moved to lie close to said rail at its outer side to coact with the outer edge of the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel laterally and directing the wheel onto the switch point, said last mentioned means including springs to accommodate independent movement of the shoes.

7. A safety mechanism for railway tracks including in combination with spaced track rails, switch points movable in unison to cooperate with the rails, a switch stand, a shaft journaled thereon, a lever carried by the shaft, and connection between said lever and the switch points for shifting the switch points when the lever is swung, guard shoes mounted at the outer sides of the rails adjacent the free ends of the switch points and movable in unison toward and away from the rails, and a connecting rod forming a connection between the shoes and said shaft for shifting the shoes in unison with the switch points whereby when either switch point is moved to abut an adjacent rail a corresponding shoe will be moved to lie close to said rail at its outer side to coact with the outer or ge of the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel laterally and direct ing the wheel onto the switch point, the connecting rod including springs adapted to accommodate independent movement of the shoes.

8. A safety mechanism for railway tracks including in combination with a track rail,

and a switch point to cooperate with said rail, a guard shoe pivoted at one end at the outer side oi the rail adjacent the tree end of the switch point, and means for swinging the free end of said shoe toward the rail to coact with the outer edge of the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel laterally and directing the wheel onto the switch point.

9. A safety mechanism for railway tracks including in combination with a track rail, and a switch point to cooperate with said raih a guard shoe pivoted at one end at the outer side or the rail adjacent the free end of the s vitch point to coact with the outer edge e? the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel laterally and directing the wheel onto the switch point, and yieldable means to accommodate movement oi the free end portion of the shoe away from the rail.

10. A safety mechanism for railway tracks including in combination with a switch frog having a tread portion, a guard shoe pivoted at one end at the outer side of said tread portion of the frog to coact with the outer edge of the tread of a car wheel for crowding the wheel laterally and directing the wheel across the frog, and yieldable means to accommodate movement of the free end portion of the shoe away from said portion of the frog.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN H. CHESTNUT, J n. [n s.] 

